1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an apparatus for rotating a container to and from an upright position to a tilted or an inverted position. More particularly, this invention relates to an apparatus which is used in connection with a stationary or a transportable moving device such as a forklift tractor for transporting a container and emptying the container of its contents by inversion.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Presently there exist many types of devices designed for the intended purpose of emptying a container of its contents by inversion. Probably the most common type of devices include those which are designed to be connected to a conventional forklift tractor. U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,713,431, 3,881,617, 4,036,383 and 4,272,217 disclose a variety of such devices. The disclosure of each of the above identified are hereby incorporated by reference herein.
More particularly, U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,713,431 and 3,881,617 teach devices which are designed to engage the container at a point below the center of mass of the container. These devices include various lever-actuators which initiate the tilting of the container until the center of mass of the container is moved forwardly or rearwardly of the axis of rotation, at which time the weight of the container causes further tilting of the container to an inverted position, thereby emptying the contents of the container. One major problem associated with these types of devices involves the inability to control the rate of the tilt during rotation. As a consequence, once the center of mass of the container moves beyond the center of the axis of rotation, the container rotates at an uncontrollable rate until impact with a stop located at an inverted position.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,036,383 issued to Allen teaches the concept of using counterbalance springs to slow the rate at which the container rotates during emptying. The patent to Allen also teaches a winch arrangement which is designed to reinvert the container to an upright position after emptying. Unfortunately, while these improvements do provide some control over the rate of rotation of the container, it is noted that the counterbalance spring is effective only when the container is filled with contents having predetermined weight.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,272,217 issued to Secfik discloses another container attachment device including two support members, each of which include pivotable fork members extending therefrom. The specially designed forklift members are designed to engage specially designed channels on the sides of the container. A gearing mechanism is provided to control the rotation of the fork members to correspondingly control the rotation of the container to and from an inverted position. As a result, the Secfik device makes a significant advancement to the state-of-the-art. However, one major drawback to the subject device is the need for specially designed fork members, specially designed channels incorporated within the sides of the container and the relatively complex gearing arrangement to rotate the same. Further, the operation of such a device is limited to rearward inversion of the container which, of course, is unsuitable for many applications.
Therefore, it is an object of this invention to provide an apparatus which overcomes the aforementioned inadequacies of the prior art devices and provides an improvement which is a significant contribution to the advancement of the container rotation art.
Another object of this invention is to provide an apparatus for use in conjunction with containers to rotate the same to and from an upright position to an inverted position at a controllable rate of rotation, both forwardly and rearwardly.
Another object of this invention is to provide an apparatus for inverting containers which is easily adaptable to conventional lift devices, both stationary and moveable, such as forklift tractors.
Another object of this invention is to provide an apparatus including various component parts which may be sold as a kit to be retrofitted to conventional containers such that conventional containers may be used in combination with the apparatus of the subject invention.
The foregoing has outlined some of the more pertinent objects of the invention. These objects should be construed to be merely illustrative of some of the more prominent features and applications of the intended invention. Many other beneficial results can be attained by applying the disclosed invention in a different manner or modifying the invention within the scope of the disclosure. Accordingly, other objects and a fuller understanding of the invention may be had by referring to the summary of the invention and the detailed description of the preferred embodiment in addition to the scope of the invention defined by the claims taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.